Meet EcoMap Technologies

Nice To Meet You, We’re EcoMap Technologies

& we're on a mission to make ecosystems accessible at scale. We're typically quiet about our work and growth, but between launching in 5 new ecosystems in two weeks, the Techstars Equitech Demo Day, and our founders speaking at conferences across the country, EcoMap Tech is about to get a lot of attention.

While we're thrilled that so many people align with our goal of connecting every ecosystem, everywhere, for everyone, we also know not everyone is familiar with ecosystems, what they are, or why they matter. And despite being around for a while, we realized we haven’t introduced our company to most of you, either.

If you’re wondering what ecosystems are, why they're vital, and how technology can make them more accessible & stronger at scale -

- we're here to share what we've learned mapping a bunch of them, including tech hubs, small business communities, identity networks, and even entire industries. If we do our job and this is helpful, we'll be sharing more across our website and socials - check our LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

What are Ecosystems?

Let’s start with ecosystems - and not the green type. Instead, we’re talking about what people mean when they say Miami’s Tech Ecosystem, the Columbus Small Business Ecosystem, or the Web3 Ecosystem You probably hear these phrases all the time... but what is an ecosystem?

Ecosystems are interconnected networks of organizations, resources, & people working towards a common goal or sharing a common identity

There are a few additions to this soundbite definition. Ecosystems contain more than just people, resources, and organizations - there’s also events, jobs, news, and other activity. Likewise, ecosystems aren't always working together - many are siloed, where there’s little collaboration between groups. To be honest, it's hard for ecosystems to not be siloed, since it’s hard to keep track of who is doing what in the ecosystem. More on that later.

Most importantly, ecosystems are everywhere - they are our local business communities, industry sectors, and corporate networks. What’s amazing is that despite their variety - in makeup, size, or stage - all ecosystems are made of the same parts: a mix of organizations doing different things, for different audiences, with different methods - but for a shared reason. ‍

The goals of ecosystems are as diverse as they are: creating a vibrant Main Street community, making a city the next hotbed for tech, launching a new industry (looking at you, NFTs), or making sure everyone can access local resources - ecosystems are united by the goals of those working within them.

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Yet despite their importance, ecosystems are often invisible & inaccessible - so how do people navigate them? That’s where EcoMaps come in.

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What’s an EcoMap?

Formally, EcoMap stands for, well, Ecosystem Map. I could tell you we named our company for the perfect URL or the trifecta of syllables, but really, EcoMap was the label that fit on the Google Drive folder containing 1,000s of hours of research into ecosystems that we did before starting the company.

In that research, we looked at ecosystems across the world to figure out how people answer the question “who is doing what” in a given ecosystem. Our work found that even though so many organizations wanted a tool that helped people navigate their ecosystem, it remained incredibly hard to create good ecosystem platforms.

Why? Because it takes a ton of time to gather, tag, and standardize information about the organizations, resources, events, jobs, news, people, etc within even a small community. Once you get all that data, you have to find a way to keep it updated as the ecosystem changes - and they change all the time. On top of that, communities had to either shell out $300k+ for a custom website, or settle for off-the-shelf software that doesn't fit their specific needs.

We realized there had to be a better way to create platforms for ecosystems, so we spent years developing technology to do it (that’s the Tech of EcoMap.Tech). We built processes to easily gather ecosystem data, algorithms to keep it continually up to date, and platforms that dynamically adapt to the design, language, and needs of each unique ecosystem.

We created the EcoMap - a data-driven platform that allows people to navigate, engage with, and understand the ecosystems around them.

EcoMaps centralize information about the organizations, resources, and other assets within a community into a continually-updated platform, so that anyone can easily navigate what is going on, find the resources they need, and connect with new partners. Our platforms power dozens of ecosystems, from small arts communities to entire industries, for organizations ranging from small nonprofits to Fortune 100 & FAANG companies.

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What’s an EcoMapper?

EcoMappers are the fearless team members leading the charge of using technology to build more accessible ecosystems across the world. Our team is a diverse group of technologists, data nerds, economic developers, and ecosystem builders united by a common goal:

To make information more accessible to everyone, in every ecosystem, everywhere.

We can’t build a stronger future if we don’t understand who is building in the present. If we can’t answer “Who is doing what?” and make that information accessible to everyone, we cant properly leverage the assets within our ecosystems to achieve our goals: thriving communities, equitable growth, and stronger networks.

EcoMap Tech is a 16 person company (and growing - if you like our work and/or are an active user of the #pets Slack, we’d love to talk) located in the heart of our favorite ecosystem, Baltimore, MD. In short, the EcoMappers are the people who make the EcoMap possible, which makes it possible for tens of thousands of people to navigate ecosystems all over the world. You can learn more about us here.

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What’s Up in our Ecosystem?

Honestly, a lot. While we’re proud of the growth we've experienced, it’s been a wild ride. Not only have our platforms spread across the country like wildfire, our tech has transformed day by day, and our team has grown rapidly to keep up with it all. Our ecosystem has changed a ton (maybe we should make an EcoMap of it...)

Over the next few months, our team will be presenting at half a dozen conferences to talk about EcoMap Tech, ecosystem building, and why this work matters more than ever (we’ll share our schedule when we have it - we’d love to meet fellow ecosystem builders!).

Over the next few weeks, we’re excited to announce the launches of new EcoMap platforms, adding to our ever-growing Ecosystem of Ecosystems. We’ll update this post with links once our partners are ready to go live:

• The XR EcoMap | The AR/VR Industry with WXR Fund, Meta, Qualcomm, and more
• Baltimore Tech Connect | Baltimore’s Equitech Ecosystem
• VABio Connect | The Virginia Bio & Lifescience Ecosystem
• CBus Biz Hub | Columbus’ Small Business Ecosystem
• Long Beach Crosswalk | Long Beach California’s Small Biz Ecosystem
• Native-Led Businesses | The Native American Business Ecosystem

Once things settle down, we’re excited to share with recent & upcoming improvements to our technology, the data we curate, and the interconnectedness of the EcoMap Ecosystem of Ecosystems. If you are not signed up for updates, you can do so here.

Now, We'd Love to Meet You

Thanks for taking the time to learn about our company, technology, team, and most importantly, our vision of building more connected ecosystems everywhere. If you would like to learn more, you can email our team, schedule a demo of our technology, or contact our founders, Pava & Sherrod.